Iwona Blazwick

“The apparition of these faces in the crowd; petals on a wet, black bough.” ― Ezra Pound
Pound’s celebrated haiku powerfully evokes the situation of the individual in the metropolis: personalities suspended in a moment within the life of the city. The Whitechapel Gallery, London and Castello di Rivoli in Turin, Italy organized Faces in the Crowd as an exploration of this condition of modernity seen in realist art, especially art of the human face and form. The exhibition and its catalog trace a history of avant-garde figuration from a new perspective.
Taking Manet’s The Masked Ball at the Opera as its starting point, the book focuses on his contemporaries such as Degas and then moves through the twentieth century to artists of today. Some artworks represent a dramatic rupture with the past proposing radical and innovative modern forms and structures. Others picture modern life or its impact on our inner selves. Others consider art as an agent for further social change. All the works include critical and bibliographical entries, plus a selection of extracts from historical documents and artists writings from the 19th-century to today. Taken together this art fully illuminates its theme in which representations of the human figure are seen as expressions of modernity.… (more)

Fresh Cream is an international 'who's who' of the new 'crème de la crème' of artists selected by 10 of the world's most influential art critics. Cream, published by Phaidon in 1998, was a sensational cultural event. Fresh Cream consolidates the biennial status of Cream as a frame of reference and an essential source of new art for art professionals and newcomers alike.

Pursuing the theme of its predecessor, with 10 new world-class contemporary curators each choosing ten emerging artists, the book presents in its entirety the works of 100 artists and an up-to-the-minute global overview of the contemporary art world, not only for now but also for the future. These artists have risen to intense international acclaim since the 1990s or, in the opinion of the curators who have selected them, are about to emerge internationally in the near future.

Fresh Cream contains the enormous breadth of ideas and forms that exist in contemporary art. The artists' spreads are arranged in an A-Z order, featuring numerous examples of each artist's work alongside a concise text from the selecting curator and vital biographical information about the artist.

A conversation between the 10 curators and the commissioning editor gives a penetrative insight into their selections and of the key issues in contemporary art. The cultural context in which the artists work - from philosophy to fiction - is presented through recent texts from 10 contemporary writers, one selected by each curator. Itself embodying the creative originality and innovation of its content, Fresh Cream is packaged in an incredible, inflated, clear plastic pillow.… (more)

This substantial volume opens with An interview with Robert Storr which includes discussions about Katz's approach to his work. This is followed by Survey, The Art of Alex Katz by Carter Ratcliff in which he conisders the artist's work from the 1950s to the present.; In Focus, Sylvia by Iwona Blazwick she concentrates on the one painting. The Artist's Choice, is a selection of nine works by the New York Poets; and The Artist's Writings range from 1959 to 2002. The book includes an illustrated Chronology and a Bibliography.

Although a paperback, with its heavy dust jacket this volume feels more substantial; it is thoughtfully laid out and well illustrated throughout with around 140 works, all in full colour and the majority up to full page. There are further comparative illustrations of other artists' work and in addition the illustrated Chronology.

It all adds up to an interesting and often illuminating survey of the artist's work and outlook, and a fine collection of his output.… (more)